1992 Group A 2.5 Evo BMW M3 Ex Anthony Reid

The M3 is touted as the most "winningest" touring car of all time. I certainly don't disagree with that statement, I would even go so far as to say, that I would wager on it being correct, but, I would love to meet the chap who did the work to come to the conclusion that 1436 victories from 1987 to 1992 makes it the official king. That's a cool stat, especially when you consider that they were still winning in Group A's various guises in parts of Europe, Japan and Australia, after that date. BMW has gone on the record stating that circa 260 Touring Car spec M3's (Group A & Group N) were sold from 1987 to 1992. With an extra 40 or 50 rally cars bringing the tally up to over 300 of the little Beemers roaring about, at one stage or another. So, just through sheer numbers, the M3 has a great chance at the loftiest of touring car titles extant and making my wager a safe one.

Built for the pure purpose of winning the ETCC, but rushed into production for the 1987 WTCC, the M3 came out swinging from its first race at Monza in 87. Sure, the M3's finishing 1st to 6th all got pinged for running cheater panels, but that's the kind of stuff that makes legends and added the fuel to the fire that was the Beemer Vs FoMoCo battle, for WTCC supremacy. A war was waged all over the planet between these two manufacturer's, with Charlie Lamm's Schnitzer M3's, going hammer and tongs against Ruedi Eggenberger's sinister Texaco Sierra's. The history books show it went down to the wire, with the underdog M3 taking the top step, but only just! BMW knew they were going to have to do something to keep ahead of the brutally fast RS500 Sierra.

So Darwinism was called upon and the "Evolution", or "Evo", tag was placed upon the first round of improvements made to the M3. These incremental homologations added speed in all the areas needed for success; greater engine power, better aero package, lighter body parts and improved driver conditions. The final Evo spec in Group A (NOT DTM) was reached by 1990. By then Australia had drifted off into its own variant of Group A, just as DTM had too. Japan however, stayed pure to the Group A ethos and what the FISA (FIA) doled out in terms of rules. This may have been because its largest active corporate competitor, Nissan, had just spent a BOMB developing the R32 GTR to dominate Group A worldwide and they didn't want to annoy them, or perhaps it's just the way the Japanese are? Either way, Japan adhered to Group A in a very stringent manner and had huge grids of Ford's, Nissan's, Toyota's, Honda's, Mitsubishi's, Mazda's, BMW's and the odd 190E Merc' lurking about too, which made for a golden era of the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC).

In the thick of the JTCC battle was M3 Chassis # M3 1 / 60. Ordered by the Japanese, but UK based, F1 team Middlebridge Racing, the M3 ended up in the hands of a young up and coming racer by the name of Anthony Reid. Now known as one of the nice guys of motorsport and talented enough to get him on the podium of Le Mans 24Hr, Anthony, with the backing of Tomei Sport and sponsors Asahi Kiko and Valvoline decided 1993, the last year of JTCC Group A, was going to the year that counted. Using Valvoline's corporate colours, a new, striking livery, was designed and the car was given all the latest EVO tricks learned from their hard charging DTM cousins. Reid took the handsome Evo 2.5 M3 (As per its entry forms) to many JTCC Class 2 (2-2.5 Litres engine capacity) podiums, with an outright win at JTCC Round 5's Ti Circuit Aida, being its best result. The stunning M3 finished up the 1993 season in 2nd place, behind the #35 Auto Tech M3 (Owned by us!).

1993 was the end of Group A in the JTCC, so M3 1 / 60 started its bounce around the world. Starting in SE Asia, it was owned and raced by a wealthy businessman, who retained the cars 1993 livery exactly. To the point that Valvoline asked him to change it, as he wasn't quite Anthony Reid, you could politely say... The car was then purchased by a Swiss expat, who took the car back with him to do Hill-climbs in. It was then purchased by a UK Classic BMW expert, Alex Elliot, who sold it to Australian expat Adrian Brady. Brady, the owner of quite a few significant BMW's, sold the car via Ecurie Bowden, with it finally ending up in the current owners possession. The car is fresh from a complete pre-season overhaul, which inculded amongst many details, an engine rebuild, a new Motorsport Getrag 5 speed and complete suspension revision. The car has only been practiced twice and raced twice:* Phillip Island Classic (3rd OA and M3 lap record) Click HERE for in-car footage.

I know this car intimately and the gent who commissioned the restoration, knows race cars and allowed us the opportunity to do the car correctly. If you are a discerning individual, wanting to race something very competitive and reliable in Historic Group A, this beautiful EVO M3 will do nicely.

A HUGE thank you to P1 Race Photography for the excellent imagery :)

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